Quirky and Building Characters

Write Better Now

Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash

Lots of times when people review my books they call my characters…. Get ready for it … QUIRKY.

These men in the photo above look a little quirky here and I wish they were one of my characters, but they aren’t. They may be soon though.

Now, when I think of quirky, I think of my uncle Kilton. If you are a man, Uncle Kilton would grab your bicep and check out your guns the moment he met you. If you are a woman? If you’re a woman … he’d guess your weight. Now that’s quirky. It is also annoying, actually, but it’s definitely quirky.

The quirkiness doesn’t stop there. Uncle Kilton once ate a worm in his corn on the cob and said, “Mmm … Protein.”

He chewed pieces of grass and wore green maintenance worker pants with a white undershirt and flannel shirts.

People called him Kilty.

He liked to rescue cats.

He had about 18 old pick-up trucks.

He’d also built a telescope and was somehow a self-made millionaire.

He had never gone on a vacation. He worked maintenance a lot.

So, compared to him, I tend to not think my characters are ‘quirky.’ But it also gets me thinking about what makes our characters – characters. What makes them unique or quirky or flat or lovable? What makes them real?

This post we’re going to try to find out. We’re going to look at major characters. Those are the characters the story revolves around like the CAT in CAT IN THE HAT.

In our books there are also minor characters and placeholders, but I’m going to blow them off for now, which makes me feel both powerful and mean.

Sorry minor characters! Seriously, no complaining.

Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash

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